The Deep End

I woke up tangled in my sheets. My heart was pounding. I was sweating. I could barely breathe.

I was terrified.

He was here. In my house. In my room. Underneath my bed.

He was waiting.

I stayed perfectly still, making sure both my feet were under the covers. I shut my eyes and tried to convince myself I was just imagining things. It was what they told me to do.

It never really worked.

I opened my eyes to look at the clock.

It was midnight.

I held my breath. The seconds ticked on silently.

He could've had me right then. It was the right time for it. He had a whole minute to do whatever he wanted. I stayed where I was, tense, waiting for something to happen.

The minute changed and it was no longer midnight. He hadn't done anything. And now it was too late for him to try.

I began to drift back to sleep. I had survived. He couldn't get me now.

Just as I had allowed that thought to comfort me, his hand was wrapped around my ankle. His cold bony fingers dug into my skin, pulling me down.

Down.

Through the mattress.

He wasn't allowed. He was breaking the rules. He was too late. I was safe. I had been sure of it.

He couldn't do anything.

But he did anyway.

I slid through the cotton sheets, through the bed frame, and finally through the floor.

Down.

I tried to fight. I did. But I couldn't get a hold on anything. Everything I tried to touch just passed through my hand.

Like it wasn't even there.

The world shrunk.

The only thing that existed was his fingernails biting into my ankle.

He pulled me down, deeper and deeper, until there was nothing.

Dark.

It was dark.

But there was fire.

All around me, burning. I could feel it, but I couldn't see it. The flames licked around my arms and legs. My skin started to blister.

Hotter and hotter.

I smelled my hair burning. My fingernails curled and burned away. I felt my skin melt off my bones. I gagged, which only let the flames in deeper. They were inside me, eating away.

I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything but scream. But no sound came out. I could only imagine what I would have sounded like, my throat burned and blistered, my lungs hanging in tatters inside my chest.

Pain and fear were equally unbearable. But somehow, I was still alive.

I should've been dead.

Eventually my mind went blank. It shut itself down.

Static, then nothing.

I stayed like that for a long time, without even the beating of my heart to keep me company.

Maybe I was dead.

Maybe this was all there was.

Nothing.

Nothing except dark and silence.

But something distracted me, something wasn't quite right. Before I had felt nothing, but now there was something.

That thought jumped around the corners of my mind, but I couldn't pin it down.

I didn't want to. I was tired.

I was dead.

No.

No I wasn't.

Dead.

No.

No, you weren't supposed to feel things when you were dead.

But I did.

It felt cold, cold as death, so cold that it almost felt like it was burning.

But it wasn't.

My ankle.

He was still holding it. His clammy palm pressed against me, in a strange counterpoint to the absence of feeling everywhere else.

That thought was enough.

"Get me out of here." My mouth refused to form the words. Not that it surprised me. There was nothing left of it except blackened bone. My tongue was gone, and all that remained of my lips were scraps of skin hanging off my teeth.

But someone must have heard me because there was an answer.

"All you had to do was ask."


AN: I'm back from Ellensberg (I was there for college stuff) and I've finished The Half Blood Prince. That got real life out of the way, so I updated.

I hope this story isn't getting too confusing. There will be explanation soon. Very soon. I promise.

madmbutterfly713- I'm glad you like it! And Race might not be as crazy as you think. Maybe.

Liams Kitten- Reading at midnight isn't probably the best idea, but I'm glad you read it. I hope it isn't too confusing.

entropic order- I'm really glad you like it. You're review made me really happy and also served to inflate my ego (which probably didn't need it). Thank you!